22/12/2017

Towards a meaningful measure of universal health coverage for the next billion

The Lancet "Effectively monitoring universal health coverage (UHC) has become increasingly important, especially given the centrality of UHC in the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) era and its ascent in policy dialogues. Further, a pillar of WHO's Global Programme of Work for 2019–231 is the provision of universal health coverage (UHC) to 1 billion more people. Yet without greater consensus on what set of health services should comprise an ideal measure of UHC, we lack a roadmap for achieving and monitoring these aims. Now is the time to unite and establish a cohesive, meaningful metric of UHC—a way to understand whether people throughout the world are truly receiving the services they need to live long, healthy lives." (Photo: Astan has her blood pressure checked in the maternity ward of Asacoba health clinic in Bamako/World Bank Photo Collection/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)